White and red cocoyam starches were physically modified by heat moisture treatment at 16, 24 and 32 % moisture levels. The functional and pasting properties of the modified and native starches were evaluated using standard methods. The swelling power at 60oC, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, least gelation concentration, packed bulk density and loose bulk density of heat moisture treated white and red cocoyam starches ranged between 1.90 - 2.18 and 1.89 – 2.21; 1.00 – 1.80 ml/g and 0.80 – 1.60 ml/g; 1.40 – 1.80 ml/g and 1.20 – 1.40 ml/g; 8.00 – 10.00% and 8.00 – 10.00%; 0.51 – 0.62 g/ml and 0.54 – 0.64 g/ml; 0.41 – 0.51 g/ml and 0.43 – 0.53 g/ml respectively. For both white and red cocoyam starches, heat moisture treated starches at 16% moisture content level had the highest swelling power in the temperature range 60oC to 90oC; also starches treated at 32% moisture level had the highest water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, packed bulk density and loose bulk density. Red cocoyam native starch had higher peak, trough, breakdown, final and setback viscosity than white cocoyam starch. Heat moisture treatment generally increased the pasting properties of white cocoyam starch. The modification of red cocoyam starch at moisture levels of 16% and 24% reduced the pasting properties, however at higher moisture level, the pasting properties increased. These results suggest that moisture level of cocoyam starches influence their physicochemical properties during heat moisture modification; this will increase the array of food products in which the starches can be used.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a member of the family Compositae (Asteraceae). This plant, which is grown for its leaves, is grown in open field and greenhouse conditions almost everywhere in the world and in Turkey. With the present study virus diseases of lettuce and their prevalence in Konya province was revealed for the first time. For this purpose, leaf samples were taken from lettuce plants showing virus diseases symptoms with surveys carried out in Konya province lettuce planting areas from May to August in 2020. Then the collected lettuce leaf samples were tested in laboratory conditions by Double Antibody Sandwich Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (DAS-ELISA) method to reveal infections of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Miraflori lettuce big vein virus (MiLBVV), Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV), and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). According to the information obtained from the results of the study, it was determined that 40 out of 97 (41.23%) lettuce plant samples and all (6) weed samples were infected with at least one of the viruses. In lettuce leaf samples; TSWV (27.83%), LMV (12.37%), CMV (10.31%) and MiLBVV (5.15%) infections have been detected. In weed samples; infections of CMV (83.33%), LMV (66.66%), and TSWV (50%) have been revealed. The infections of TSWV, LMV, CMV, and MiLBVV on lettuce plants in Konya province were reported firstly with the study.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, the bacterial agent for tomato speck disease, can cause serious epidemics with high leaf moisture, mild temperatures, and cultural practices allowing bacterial dissemination among host plants. Boron is an essential micro-nutrient for plant growth and health in agricultural production. In this study, the effectiveness of 14 different Boron compounds at 5 different doses (1, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mM) against P. s. pv. tomato at a concentration of 108 CFU ml-1 in vitro was evaluated and the most successful 4 different Boron compounds (Ammonium tetrafluoroborate, Sodium tetrafluoroborate, Zinc borate and Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate) were coated with 5 mM doses infected cv. H2274 tomato seeds to determine bacterial populations and seed emergence rates in the seeds. Among the 14 different Boron compounds used in the experiments, Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate was the most successful active ingredient 92% ratio in inhibiting P. s. pv. tomato populations in tomato seeds, while 39% success was achieved with sodium tetrafluoroborate applications. According to the results of the research, it is thought that some Boron compounds can be an economical, effective and environmentally friendly chemical in reducing P. s. pv. tomato in tomato seeds within the scope of good agricultural practices.

In this study, it was determined that total phenolic and flavonoid substance amounts and antioxidant capacity of methanol extracts obtained from leaves (Y) and buds (T) of mistletoe (V. album ssp. Austriacum) collected from Northeast Anatolian Yellow Pine forests (Pinus sylvestris L). The amount of total phenolic substance was determined as 19.55 ±4.68 mg GAE/g in Y and 16.88 ±2.77 mg GAE/g in T, while amount of total flavonoid substance 17.56 ±2.53 mg QE/g in Y and 17.17 ±3.29 mg QE/g in T. IC50 values were calculated as 476.26 ±22.54 μg/mL in Y and 778.57±25.61 μg/mL in T. In addition, the reducing antioxidant powers of Fe3+-Fe2+ were calculated as 303.00 ±1.73 μg AAE/mL in Y and 307.01±1.05 μg AAE/mL in T, equivalent to ascorbic acid. As a result, it was seen that mistletoe which is considered harmful for yellow pines, has antioxidant properties. It has been concluded that the evaluation of mistletoe collected during the struggle with mistletoe as a natural antioxidant source may contribute economically.

Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. is a fungal pathogen causes charcoal rot disease (Sin: Rhizoctonia bataticola) and is responsible for significant yield losses in many plants. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the antagonistic ability of 39 different bacteria, isolated from the fields of sugar beet in 2019, against the pathogen Macrophomina phaseolina isolated from sugar beet, beans and chickpeas. Approximately 31% of the bacteria showed antibiosis effect against the pathogen. It was determined that the effectiveness level of Lelliottia amnigena, Bacillus atrophaeus, B.pumilus and B. cereus (7 isolates) was moderate to high against Macrophomina phaseolina. Bacillus atrophaeus (PTo15-1a) showed the highest efficacy of 80%, 72.94% and 82.35% against Macrophomina phaseolina of chickpea, bean and sugar beet respectively. Lelliottia amnigena (Pto 14-1b) was moderately effective (57.78%) against the chickpea isolate of the pathogen. It was observed that of the seven Bacillus cereus isolates used in the experiment, three isolates (Pto14-1a, Pto12-1b, Pto17-1b) were highly effective against the chickpea pathogen, two (Pto12-1b, Pto14-2b) against bean pathogen, and one (Pto15-1b) against sugar beet isolate. Results have shown varied level of antagonism by different test bacterial against different Macrophomina phaseolina isolates, while the highest level of antibiosis shown by Bacillus atrophaeus against all pathogenic isolates indicated that it can be a potential future bioagent in managing the disease.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is the world's most popular beverage plant, as well as an important plantation crop with high commercial value. It has been maintained for centuries through conventional vegetative propagation. Tea clonal propagation in vitro has the advantage of producing a large number of elite plants. If an efficient in vitro regeneration technology is available, this technique could be exploited for selection of tea plants for desired trait. The selected plants could be later on multiplied through in vitro or ex vitro techniques. The study aimed to induced somatic embryogenesis from immature embryo explants to genetic variaton. Different concentrations of phenylboronic acid with benzyladenine and phenylboronic acid with kinetin were tested in MS medium with 30 g/L sucrose and 8 g/L agar. MS medium without any plant growth regulators was used as control group. Considering the embryo survival rate, 1.5 mg/ L-1 phenylboronic acid + 1 mg/ L-1 kinetin produced highest result as 87.3% while lowest was in control group as 36.7%. The highest plant regeneration rate was found in 1,5 mg/ L-1 phenylboronic acid + 1 mg/ L-1 kinetin and 1.5 mg/ L-1 phenylboronic acid + 1 mg/ L-1 benzyladenine medium respectively as 58.3% and 55.6%. Kinetin treatment with increasing phenylboronic acid concentrations gave the best results in terms of somatic embryo survival rate. Also, kinetin treatment produced better results when compared to benzyladenine concentrations.

Poverty is a major menace in Nigeria. Therefore, the research centered on the analysis of poverty status of farming households in Ebonyi State. Multi stage and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 450 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected using electronic data capturing instrument containing the questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Foster, Greer and Thorbeecke (FGT), and Logit regression model. The result from the study shows that 54% of the farming households in Ebonyi state were poor while 46% of them were not poor. The result further reveals that household size, dependency ratio, sex, monthly household expenditure, and farm size were the significant factors that influenced poverty status of Ebonyi state farming households. Therefore, government at the federal, state and local levels should consider socioeconomic characteristics of the farming households in the design and implementation of any poverty driven projects in order to improve their standard of living. Also, government at the various level, should consider embarking on programs to address the youth unemployment and aged members of the Nigerian society for these will reduce the dependency burden which have continued to increase the poverty level in farming households in Ebonyi state.

Striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) is one of the species in danger of extinction and categorized globally as “Under Threatened Organism”. From time to time, different tissue samples and carcasses of the striped hyena are reported in different regions of Anatolia. In this study, 571 bp length of Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit II (COX 2) of mitochondiral DNA from hair, ears, nails and teeth specimens from six striped hyaenas were amplified and sequenced to determined phylogenetic relationships between close and distant species related to hyaena. Tissue samples using in this study were found randomly at different times in Hatay province, Turkey. According to our results, all colected samples located in Hatay region are the members of H. hyaena species. Moreover, this research is the first molecular research using COX2 gene region for phylogenetic analysis in Turkey. Further investigation can be performed on studies that suggest determining phylogenetic status of striped hyaenas.

Son yıllarda, ekoturizm gelişimi için uygun alanları belirlemeye yönelik çalışmalarda Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri (CBS) teknolojisinin yaygın olarak kullanıldığı görülmektedir. CBS teknolojisi, sayısallaştırılmış veri kullanarak sistematik ve kapsamlı bir analiz sunan güçlü bir yaklaşımdır. Araştırmacılar topoğrafya, arazi örtüsü, iklim, sosyokültürel yapı vb. bileşenlere sayısal değerler vermek suretiyle yaygın yöntemler oluşturmaya çalışmaktadır. Fakat araştırmaların çoğunun vaka çalışması şeklinde olması, her çalışmada alana özgü değerlemeler yapılması ve bazı niteliklerin sayısal olarak ifade edilme güçlüğü, ortak yöntemler ortaya koymayı zorlaştırmaktadır. Bu araştırmada CBS araçları ile yapılan alan uygunluğu analizlerinin farklı aşamalarında kullanılan çeşitli yöntem ve yaklaşımların sonuçlar üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir. Sonuçların CBS’ye eşlik eden Çok Kriterli Karar Verme (ÇKKV) tekniklerine, analizde kullanılan kriterlerin seçimine ve bunlara ağırlık tayin etme yöntemlerine, kriterlerin nasıl standardize edildiğine ve sonuç haritasının yorumlanmasını sağlayan uygunluk analizi türlerine göre değiştiği görülmektedir. Özellikle sosyokültürel bileşenlerin sayısal olarak ifade edilme zorluğu ve çeşitliliği, CBS ile yapılan nicel değerlendirmenin yanında nitel değerlendirmenin de gerekli olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bunun yanısıra ekoturizm uygunluk seviyelerinin belirlenmesinde kullanılan Doğal Kırılmalar Yöntemi, Eşit Aralık Yöntemi ve FAO (Gıda ve Tarım Örgütü) Arazi Sınıflandırması, analiz haritasında farklı desenler oluşturmaktadır. Sonuç olarak CBS teknolojisi, bu alanda ortak ve yaygın yöntemler oluşturmak için tek başına yeterli değildir ve çalışma alanı ile planlanan faaliyete özgü değerlendirmelerle desteklenmesi gerekmektedir.

Siyanobakteri olan Spirulina platensis önemli bir gıda katkı maddesidir. Fotosentetik bir mikroalg olan Spirulina platensis yüksek oranda ham protein (%62-70) içeriğine sahiptir ayrıca kıymetli sekonder metabolitleri de içerir. Yapısında bulunan proteinler ağırlıklı olarak esansiyel amino asitlerden oluşur. Kanatlı hayvan yetiştiriciliğinde tüketici talepleri doğrultusunda üreticiler sentetik katkı maddeleri yerine doğal ve fonksiyonel besin katkı maddelerine yönelmiştir. Kanatlı kümes hayvanları üzerine yapılan çalışmalarda Spirulina’ nın büyüme ve gelişmeyi desteklediği, kuluçka ve kuluçka sonrası performansı arttırdığı, yumurta sarı skoru ve ürün kalitesini iyileştirdiği, hastalıklara karşı direnç kazandırdığı dolayısıyla fonksiyonel bir yem katkı maddesi olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada Spirulina mikroalginin besin değeri ve kompozisyonu açıklanarak fonksiyonelliği ve kanatlı kümes hayvanları (etlik piliç, yumurtacı tavuk ve damızlık) rasyonlarında uygulanabilirliği çalışılmıştır.